The 2017 film, “Battle of
the Sexes,” is the true story of the 1973 tennis match
between the world number one tennis player Billie Jean King and ex-champ
Bobby Riggs. Included in the story is Billie Jean King’s
affair with Marilyn Barnett. The movie stars Emma Stone
as Billie Jean King, Steve Carell as Bobby Riggs, and
Andrea Riseborough as Marilyn Barnett.

Unlike the Sochi Olympic Games (2014), where gay rights
were called into question over anti-gay laws enacted by
Russia’s government, the Rio Olympic Games (2016) were a
lot more tolerant by comparison. It wasn’t flawless in
that regard. For example, homophobic slurs were shouted
by some in the stands at a US women’s soccer match as
the games opened. But, overall, there were encouraging
signs of progress on the inclusion front.

“That’s what I hope for and I feel like our society is
going in the right direction,” said US women’s
basketball star Elena Delle Donne, who came out and
announced her engagement last week. “That’s not a story.
It’s normal.” The new normal, perhaps.

Gay marriage is legal in Brazil, though tolerance seems
far from universal. One gay rights group says that on
average since 2013, about one LGBTQ person each day has
been killed in Brazil. The organization called Grupo Gay
da Bahia calls Brazil “the world champion of crimes
motivated by homophobia and transphobia.”

“I know all the prejudice that exists in society
against homosexuals,” said 2012 Olympic beach volleyball
bronze medalist Larissa Franca of Brazil, who competed
again in Rio. “We don’t choose our feelings, let alone
control them.” At these Olympics, there seems to be far
more cheering than prejudice.”

Whether it was a transgender model appearing in the
athletes’ parade at the opening ceremony, two men
kissing during their leg of the torch relay along
Copacabana Beach or the British women’s field hockey
team including two teammates who are married (an Olympic
first) it was an Olympic event unlike any other for the
LGBTQ community.

Caitlyn Jenner (the former Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner)
was presented with the prestigious Arthur Ashe Courage
Award at the 2015 ESPN Awards event. Presented by US
women's soccer player Abby Wambach, who first introduced
a touching montage of Caitlyn's journey, Jenner walked
onto the stage and was greeted with a standing ovation
from the crowd as the entire Kardashian and Jenner brood
supported in the audience.

Caitlyn revealed she had never met another transgender
person before the last few months, and expressed the
importance in accepting and respecting everyone for who
they are. "My plea to you tonight is to join me in
making this one of your issues as well. Learn as much as
you can about another person." She continued, "I
trained hard. I competed hard. And for this, people
respected me. But this transition was harder on me than
anything I could have imagined. And that's the case for
so many others besides me. For that reason alone, trans
people deserve something vital. They deserve your
respect."

The 65-year-old thanked fellow transgender people in the
industry and in the spotlight, like Laverne Cox and Chaz
Bono. "It is an honor to have the word ‘courage'
associated with my life, but on this night, another word
comes to mind, and that is ‘fortunate.' I owe a lot to
sports. It showed me the world. It's given me an
identity. If you wanna call me names, make jokes, doubt
my intentions, go ahead. Because the reality is I can
take it. But for the thousands of kids out there coming
to terms with being true to who they are, they shouldn't
have to take it. So for the people out there wondering
what this is all about, whether its about courage or
controversy or publicity, it's about what happens from
here. It's not just about one person. It's about
thousands of people. It's not just about me. It's about
all of us accepting one another. We're all different.
It's not a bad thing. It's a good thing."

Tennis legend and LGBTQ icon Martina Navratilova was
honored in September 2010 during the opening ceremonies
of the US Tennis Open in New York. The honor, for “those
who dream, succeed and inspire,” according to
organizers, is fitting for Navratilova who has battled
"nasty curveballs" in her personal and professional life
but always come out a winner. “It’s the positive
attitude that gets you through life and it is a choice,”
she said. “I’ve always been too much of an optimist
where I sort of ignore bad stuff until it sits right
there in front of me. I’m saying nothing is going to go
wrong and, when it does, that’s when I deal with it.
That’s how I’ve gotten through life. I think it’s done
me pretty well.”

The 53-year-old Czech native knows something about grit
and attitude. Early in 2010, she was diagnosed
with noninvasive breast cancer and underwent surgery and
radiation only to win the Wimbledon ladies' invitation
doubles in June 2010. Martina also spoke to the crowd about
publicly coming out of the closet as a lesbian the year
she made it to her first US Open final. “In 1981, I came
out as a gay woman. That was not a good thing to do back
then. There were a lot of doors that were shut in my
face because of that, but you know what, I could still
play tennis, no matter what.”

On December 15, 2014, Martina married her longtime
partner Julia Lemigova at the Peninsula Hotel in New
York City. Their marriage was seen very much as a public
statement. During that time, Martina was 58, and Julia
was 42. At the US Open, Martina proposed to her longtime
girlfriend Julia for the wedding by going down on one
knee while on camera. Their wedding was attended by
Julia’s two daughters Victoria Lemigova and Emma
Lemigova.

Michael Sam made history on May 10, 2014 as the St.
Louis Rams made him the 249th overall choice in the 2014
NFL draft. The Missouri defensive end became the first
openly gay football player to be drafted in league
history and seeks to be the first openly gay athlete
ever to play in the NFL. The Rams used the 249th overall
selection on Michael Sam, giving the first openly gay
player the opportunity to begin his NFL career in
surroundings that should be comfortable. Shortly after
learning of his selection by phone, surrounded by
friends and family, a visibly emotional Sam turned to
his boyfriend and kissed him.

Michael Sam, an All-American defensive lineman from the
University of Missouri, announced in February 2014 that
he is gay. Sam stated publicly what his teammates and
coaches have known since August 2013: "I am an openly,
proud gay man."

Billie
Jean King (born November 22, 1943) is an American former
World No. 1 professional tennis player. King won 39
Grand Slam titles: 12 in singles, 16 in women's doubles,
and 11 in mixed doubles. King won the singles title at
the inaugural WTA Tour Championships. King often
represented the United States in the Federation Cup and
the Wightman Cup. She was a member of the victorious US
team in seven Federation Cups and nine Wightman Cups.
For three years, King was the US captain in the
Federation Cup.

King is an
advocate for gender equality and has long been a pioneer
for equality and social justice. In 1973, at age 29, she
won the "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match against
55-year-old Bobby Riggs, and was the founder of the
Women's Tennis Association and the Women's Sports
Foundation.

Regarded by many in the
sport as one of the greatest tennis players of all time,
King was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of
Fame in 1987. The Fed Cup Award of Excellence was
bestowed on King in 2010. King has also received the
Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Sunday Times
Sportswoman of the Year lifetime achievement award. King
was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in
1990, and in 2006, the USTA National Tennis Center in
New York City was renamed the USTA Billie Jean King
National Tennis Center.

Billie Jean and Larry
King were engaged in fall of 1964 and married in Long
Beach, California, on September 17, 1965. Billie Jean
credited Larry with introducing her to feminism and for
pushing her to pursue tennis as a career. Billie Jean
later said she "was totally in love with Larry" when
they married.

By 1968,
King realized that she was attracted to women, and in
1971, began an intimate relationship with her secretary,
Marilyn Barnett. King acknowledged the relationship when
it became public in a May 1981 'palimony' lawsuit filed
by Barnett, making King the first prominent professional
female athlete to come out as a lesbian. Feeling she
could not admit to the extent of the relationship,
King publicly called it a fling and a mistake. She
remained married to Larry. The lawsuit caused King to
lose an estimated $2 million in endorsements and forced
her to prolong her tennis career to pay attorneys.

Concerning the personal
cost of concealing her sexuality for so many years, King
said: I wanted to tell the truth but my parents were
homophobic and I was in the closet. People told me that
if I talked about what I was going through, it would be
the end of the women's tour. I couldn't get a closet
deep enough. One of my big goals was always to be honest
with my parents and I couldn't be for a long time. I
tried to bring up the subject but felt I couldn't. My
mother would say, "We're not talking about things like
that", and I was pretty easily stopped because I was
reluctant anyway. I ended up with an eating disorder
that came from trying to numb myself from my feelings. I
needed to surrender far sooner than I did. At the age of
51, I was finally able to talk about it properly with my
parents and no longer did I have to measure my words
with them. That was a turning point for me as it meant I
didn't have regrets any more.

Billie Jean and Larry
remained married through the palimony suit fallout. The
marriage ended in 1987 after Billie Jean fell in love
with her doubles partner, Ilana Kloss. Billie Jean and
Larry remained on good terms, with Billie Jean serving
as godmother to Larry's son from his subsequent
marriage. King has residences in New York City and
Chicago with Kloss, her life partner.

In December 2013, at the start of the Sochi Olympic
Games, US gold-medal-winning figure skater Brian Boitano
came out as gay. His announcement came amidst great
public dissatisfaction with the Russian government, who
had recently been very outspoken in its opposition to
LGBTQ rights and very aggressive with its anti-gay laws.
Many protests and boycotts have been staged to express
outrage at Russia, the host of the 2014 Winter Olympic
Games. Brian Boitano, a member of the US delegation to
the Sochi Winter Olympics, in announcing he is gay, made
him the third gay member of the delegation that traveled
to Russia.

The 50-year-old Boitano, who has deflected questions
about his sexuality in the past, said that “being gay is
just one part of who I am.” President Obama named
Boitano to the delegation along with Billie Jean King
and Caitlin Cahow, two openly lesbian star athletes. “I
am many things: a son, a brother, and uncle, a friend,
an athlete, a cook, an author, and being gay is just one
part of who I am,” Boitano said in a statement published
by USA Today.

“First and foremost I am an American athlete and I am
proud to live in a country that encourages diversity,
openness and tolerance. As an athlete, I hope we can
remain focused on the Olympic spirit which celebrates
achievement in sport by peoples of all nations.” The
very makeup of the delegation appeared to send a clear
message about the administration's dissatisfaction with
the Russian government on a range of foreign policy and
human rights issues, including the treatment of gays.

In May 2013, Sports Illustrated featured a front cover
story about Jason Collins' public coming out story.
Jason Collins, center for the Washington Wizards states,
"I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay. I
didn't set out to be the first openly gay athlete
playing in a major American team sport. But since I am,
I'm happy to start the conversation. I wish I wasn't the
kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, I'm
different. If I had my way, someone else would have
already done this. Nobody has, which is why I'm raising
my hand. My journey of self-discovery and
self-acknowledgement began in my hometown of Los Angeles
and has taken me through two state high school
championships, the NCAA Final Four and the Elite Eight,
and nine playoffs in 12 NBA seasons."

Jason Collins is an 11-year NBA veteran basketball star.
He has played for 6 professional teams and appeared in
two NBA Finals. Currently he plays for the Washington
Wizards. Just before that, he played for the Boston
Celtics. For more than a decade as a professional
athlete, he had remained silent about his sexuality,
worried about what teammates, opponents, fans (the
world, really) might think. So after having "endured
years of misery and gone to enormous lengths to live a
lie," Collins became the first active player in one of
the four major US pro sports leagues to come out as gay.

“I don’t know what to tell you," he explains. "You get
so used to wearing a mask. You get used to telling
half-truths, telling lies, telling stories about making
up fictitious girlfriends or whatever it is. In the end,
it’s all about making this step forward in my life and
being completely honest and up front and genuine. It
just goes back to anybody who tries to keep some secret.
The weight just gets heavier and heavier and heavier. It
starts taking its toll on you mentally and physically to
the point where you just don’t sleep well.”

Brendon Ayanbadejo is an African-American football
linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens of the National
Football League. He is also the first straight football
player to come out as a strong, outspoken LGBTQ ally and
supporter.

When expressing his views on gay marriage and LGBTQ
rights, he says, "It's a matter of fairness. Maybe I am
a man ahead of my time. However, looking at the former
restrictions on human rights in our country starting
with slavery, women not being able to vote, blacks being
counted as two thirds of a human, segregation, no gays
in the military all have gone by the wayside.”

In 2009, as he questioned the prohibition on same sex
marriage, he said, “I think we will look back in 10, 20,
30 years and be amazed that gays and lesbians did not
have the same rights as everyone else. How did this ever
happen in the land of the free and the home of the
brave? Discrimination against any group of people is
barbaric."

He has voiced his opinions regarding LGBTQ rights in
several magazine interviews, including ESPN Magazine and
Men's Journal. His video in support of same-sex marriage
has been heavily circulated, especially in his home
state of Maryland. Others have said of Brendon, "This
is newsworthy in the sense that pro athletes normally do
not even discuss issues relating to gay or lesbians,
especially in the world of pro football. Right or wrong,
it simply doesn't fit the macho image of tough, rugged
football players. Regardless of whether you agree or
disagree with his stance on the issue, you have to
admire Ayanbadejo's courage for speaking out."

Trans Basketball Player
Gabrielle Lugwig

In December 2012, the women's basketball team at Mission
College expected the bleachers to be full and the
hecklers ready when its newest player made her home
court debut. In the days leading up to the game, people
had plenty to say about 6-foot-6-inch tall, 220-pound
Gabrielle Ludwig, who joined the Lady Saints as a
mid-season walk-on and became, according to advocates,
the first transsexual to play college hoops as both a
man and a woman. Coach Corey Cafferata worried the
outside noise was getting to his players, particularly
the 50-year-old Ludwig.

A pair of ESPN radio hosts had laughed at her looks,
referring to her as "it." And online threats and
anonymous calls prompted the two-year college to assign
the Navy veteran of Operation Desert Storm a safer
parking space next to the gym and two police guards.
Last week, Ludwig gathered her 10 teammates at practice
and offered to quit. This was their time to shine, she
told the group of 18-20-year-olds. She didn't want to be
a distraction for the team. The other women said if
Ludwig, whom they nicknamed "Big Sexy" and "Princess,"
didn't play, they wouldn't either. Didn't she know she
was the glue holding the team together? "Then let's
just play basketball," she replied solemnly, looking
each teammate in the eye. A lifelong basketball lover,
Ludwig has been helping coach and working out with the
Saints since the beginning of the school year, but she
only received conference clearance to compete in
November 2012. She took the court as No. 42, scoring
three points on four free throws in about seven minutes
of play. During her first home game, she scored eight
points in 11 minutes, and not a single heckle. "I got
exactly what I always wanted, just to fit in and be
normal like everyone else," Ludwig said.

Openly Gay Olympic
Athletes at Summer Games

The number of openly gay and lesbian athletes at the
2012 London Summer Olympics surpassed the totals for
Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008. There were 21 openly
gay and lesbian London Olympians, two coaches and two
gay Paralympians. This compares with 11 in Athens and 10
in Beijing, showing some progress in athletes being
public about their sexual orientation, but still a low
number.

Péon and Harrison are a couple. In addition, Pia
Sundhage, US women’s soccer head coach, is openly gay,
as is Hope Powell, Great Britain's women’s soccer coach.
The gay Paralympians are Lee Pearson, a male British
equestrian athlete, and Claire Harvey, a member of
Britain’s women’s volleyball team.

Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese made the
following statement as three-time WNBA MVP player and
Olympic gold medalist Sheryl Swoopes came out in October
2005, in an interview with ESPN's The Magazine:

"Sheryl Swoopes is a real hero on and off the court.
Being open and honest about your life is an act of
bravery. This MVP player and Olympic gold medalist is
helping to start real conversations about openness,
honesty and authenticity. We commend her for this brave
step that will mean so much to her gay, lesbian,
bisexual, transgender and straight supportive fans and
peers."

In an interview with The Magazine, Swoopes said, "Some
people might say my coming out after just winning the
MVP award is heroic, and I understand that. And I know
there are going to be some negative things said, too.
But it doesn't change who I am. I can't help who I fall
in love with. No one can."

Kye Allums Transgender
Basketball Player

George Washington University 21-year old junior Kye
Allums is transgender and originally played women's
basketball as a woman. But he now plays the role of a
brother, not a sister, to his teammates. Everything is
the same when he takes to the court, except that Allums
is now identified as a man, becoming the first openly
transgender player in NCAA Division I basketball. "This
means a lot," Allums said in a statement. "I didn't
choose to be born in this body and feel the way I do."

The 5 foot 11 inch guard from Hugo, Minnesota, said the
university has been supportive of his decision. But he
will not be permitted to undergo testosterone therapy as
long as he is competing. A report last month from the
National Center on Lesbian Rights and the Women's Sports
Foundation provided guidance on the matter, saying that
transgender student athletes "should be allowed to
participate in any gender-segregated sports activity so
long as that athlete's use of hormone therapy, if any,
is consistent with the national governing body's
existing policies on banned medications."

Robert Chernak, senior vice provost at George
Washington, said the university is fully accepting of
Allums decision to live as a male student. "Kye has
informed the university that he will not begin any
medical or drug protocols while a student-athlete,"
Chernak said. "Kye will continue to be a member of the
women's basketball team.

Allums grew up as a tomboy and later tried behaving and
dressing the way teenage girls do, according to an
interview with OutSports, an online gay sports site. "I
decided to transition, that is change my name and
pronouns because it bothered me to hide who I am, and I
am trying to help myself and others to be who they are,"
Allums said in his statement. In his sophomore year, he
began telling people he was a man trapped in a woman's
body. "I told my teammates first, and they, including my
coaches, have supported me," he said. "My teammates have
embraced me as the big brother of the team. They have
been my family, and I love them all."